The Game of Go
Go is a game originally developed in China 4,000 years ago. While generally considered the most challenging game ever created (there are more possible outcomes to a game than there are atoms in the universe), the rules are simple and the game can be enjoyed by players of all levels. Relatively unknown in the west, it is the most widely played board game in the world. Go, poetically also referred to as, "hand-talk," rewards creativity and builds the visualization skills so important for the imagery-language connection. I highly recommend the game for everyone, but especially for those who are challenged to spell or concentrate. Serious brain training that's addictively engaging- I am an avid player.
Here's a free introduction book to download as PDF or as an ebook:
The Way to Go
"While the Baroque rules of Chess could only have been created by humans, the rules of Go are so elegant, organic, and rigorously logical that if intelligent life forms exist elsewhere in the universe they almost certainly play Go." - Edward Lasker
"Gentlemen should not waste their time on trivial games -- they should study go." -- Confucius, The Analects, ca. 500 B.C.E.
"Studying go is a wonderful way to develop both the creative as well as the logical abilities of children because to play it both sides of the brain are necessary." -- Cho Chikun 9-Dan, among the world's strongest players
"That play of black upon white, white upon black, has the intent and takes the form of creative art. It has in it a flow of the spirit and a harmony of music. Everything is lost when suddenly a false note is struck, or one party in a duet suddenly launches forth on an eccentric flight of his own. A masterpiece of a game can be ruined by insensitivity to the feelings of an adversary." -- from The Master of Go , by Yasunari Kawabata, winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature
"(Dark Star is) kind of like the game of Go. It's so simple, it doesn't have many rules - it's really simple and also ultimately as complicated as you could possibly get it. It's both things at the same time." -The Grateful Dead's Jerry Garcia
The Way to Go
"While the Baroque rules of Chess could only have been created by humans, the rules of Go are so elegant, organic, and rigorously logical that if intelligent life forms exist elsewhere in the universe they almost certainly play Go." - Edward Lasker
"Gentlemen should not waste their time on trivial games -- they should study go." -- Confucius, The Analects, ca. 500 B.C.E.
"Studying go is a wonderful way to develop both the creative as well as the logical abilities of children because to play it both sides of the brain are necessary." -- Cho Chikun 9-Dan, among the world's strongest players
"That play of black upon white, white upon black, has the intent and takes the form of creative art. It has in it a flow of the spirit and a harmony of music. Everything is lost when suddenly a false note is struck, or one party in a duet suddenly launches forth on an eccentric flight of his own. A masterpiece of a game can be ruined by insensitivity to the feelings of an adversary." -- from The Master of Go , by Yasunari Kawabata, winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature
"(Dark Star is) kind of like the game of Go. It's so simple, it doesn't have many rules - it's really simple and also ultimately as complicated as you could possibly get it. It's both things at the same time." -The Grateful Dead's Jerry Garcia